Occupy Seattle votes to set up camp at Capitol Hill’s Seattle Central

The school’s administration may not welcome the move but the General Assembly of the Occupy Seattle protest voted Monday night to occupy Capitol Hill’s Seattle Central Community College campus at the corner of Pine and Broadway.

Hey, if this movement is supposed to be a big civil disobedience exercise, why not “occupy” private property? Or create blockades so people cannot enter into large downtown bank branches? Sure, the big banks all have a bazillion branches, but blocking their entrances would send a message and create a true civil disobedience showdown.

I’m supportive of the what the Occupy movement stands for, but after weeks of camping on public land, it’s starting to come off as one big navel-gazing circle jerk.

Blah blah blah. That critique wasn’t valid even before it got stale about three weeks ago.

We’re not going after Apple or YouTube, “A Neighbor.” I would direct your attention to the movement’s name: Occupy Wall Street, not Occupy Silicon Valley.

Instead, we’re going after a dangerously unregulated financial sector that forsook investing in the American economy for merely speculating on it. And when their greedy, deceptive practices catch up with them and wreck the global economy, the parasites look to us to bail them out. We won’t stand for that any more.

We want a country of, by, and for the American people, rather than a country of, by, and for the corporations.

Bank occupations are in the works. There will be a direct action at Chase this Saturday at noon but one that is unlikely to result in arrests. Next week, expect paddywagons elsewhere. You’re not the only one who has had enough of the battling with police and Parks and is looking forward to actions focused on the crooks who ripped us all off. We’ll be moving past that soon. Please join us.

Westlake Park will remain a significant point of outreach. General Assemblies will still be held there. Workshops will still be held there. There’s no way we’ll miss the opportunity to chat with all the holiday shoppers down there. We’re just relocating the overnight location. During the day, we’ll be just south of the carousel.

Those of us who didn’t sleep through Econ 101 know that Apple’s corporate strategy has been to reinvest their profit into new development, which is typical. For example, Apple reinvested iPod profits into iPhone and then iPad development.

In contrast, a very large percentage of the “assets” of Wall Street banks are loans that will never be paid back, making those assets basically worthless. The apparent health of Wall Street following the 2008 crash depends on a fraudulent valuation of those assets.

But a return to “mark to market” — where assets are valued on the balance sheet at what they would get if offered for sale on the open market — would reveal the investment banks to be insolvent.

This is the mess that unregulated banking has created. That, not Apple’s reinvestment of profit, is of concern to the Occupy movement, among other issues. (I suspect that charges of inhumane working conditions at China’s iPhone maker Foxconn, where a spate of worker suicides occurred recently, might be of greater interest to Occupy).

Please stay out of my neighborhood. It is very likely that the SCCC administration will not tolerate your presence on their campus and arrests will be forthcoming. Your refusal to utilize City Hall for overnight camping is just arrogant petulance.

In my opinion, this is a useless “protest” that will result in exactly zero change. It is born out of dissatisfaction with our government’s inability/unwillingness to effectively regulate Wall Street….I’m frustrated with this too, but I don’t think the “occupy” movement will effectively influence the process.

Broadway and Pine is the site of our neighborhood farmers market on Sunday (small farms, small businesses, you know?) and a neighborhood Halloween celebration (hosted by the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, again small businesses, for small children) this Sunday afternoon. Occupy is not going to be popular with the neighborhood if they take over Broadway and Pine on Sunday.

It basically is over. Some angry people will continue to camp out, but they’ll eventually be beaten into submission by Seattle’s proud transient population. They don’t appreciate people “occupying” their turf.

This will be the end of OS. Those who voted to move to Capitol Hill will be responsible for it’s end. Thankfully we still have OW. As for camping in City Hall, a cell phone was stolen. Try securing your stuff and don’t ask for money to cover silly mistakes. You may disagree but others will see this as kids going back home to their neighborhood. RIP Occupy Seattle.

I agree with the movement and support the protestors, but why move the protest from the financial and consumer center of the city to Capitol Hill, where many of your supporters and base live? With this move Occupy Seattle is irrelevant and weak.

The Farmers Market’s use of the plaza on weekends was brought up at our October 21 general assembly, so the group is aware that the paved area of the plaza will be unavailable then. The Ballard Farmers Market have been very supportive, donating lots of food to Occupy Seattle. I don’t anticipate conflicts on Broadway.

We’re planning a Halloween party for Saturday evening on the SCCC campus, and will be carving jack-o-lanterns at Westlake Park Sunday afternoon during the Chamber’s scheduled events. There will not be conflict.

We’ll still be at Westlake Park during the day. This move primarily concerns the overnight portion of this 24-hour demonstration. As one attendee at Sunday’s general assembly put it, “Westlake is excellent front line. Excellent visibility. Great forward operating base. Terrible command post. We cannot sustain command post here. Let’s keep Westlake as the front line, forward operating base. Let’s find another place for the command post.”

Bob, the local part of this movement has already resulted in Nick Licata drafting a resolution that would, among other things, call on the City to “review its banking and investment practices and ensure that public funds are invested in responsible financial institutions that support our community.” Getting our money out of Wells Fargo would be great.

1. All city parks close at 10 pm. OS (Occupy Seattle) has faced round the clock harassment from parks dept. and police. OS has a permit for an info tent but tent comes down when park closes.

2. City hall is a red herring! Campers are awoken at 6am to take down tents. The city does allow storage. Homeless and drug addicts are like locusts consuming all supplies they can and stealing things from occupiers. It is too small a space IMO.

3. Several votes to move to SCCC were defeated in General Assembly. A determined caucus continued to propose the move and finally won a vote to move.

4. People have a right to be in public space in Seattle — it is my understanding this was established in court after the WTO protests. SCCC IS NOT PUBLIC PROPERTY. This will be ‘more illegal’ than occupying Westlake Plaza.

5. It has been discussed that OS could take down tents at SCCC during the day. A working group is actively planning for logistics of move.

6. I do not camp, but have spent several nights awake in solidarity at Westlake Plaza. I have been involved since the march approximately 3-4 weeks ago.

I want to support you guys but it’s tough. Just like the tea party had their nut jobs, so do you. Overall I think your message is sound and if you can manage to conduct yourselves properly the message will resonate with the public. One way to ruin all of that would be to mess with the market. People love the markets here. Be as respectful as possible to all vendors/customers or risk being vilified.

I think it’s irresponsible of OS to move to SCCC campus. As someone who works across from Westlake, I know how disruptive it’s been to have the demonstrators here. I may support their cause but that doesn’t mean they’ve been great to have around. I don’t think it’s fair to push that onto a school campus, where people are attending TO LEARN. To better their lives. The disruptions and distractions aren’t fair to the students, in my opinion. I think camping out at City Hall, which you have approval to do, is a better solution.

I’ve been right in the middle of this protest for weeks. I attend all the general assemblies. It’s my impression that most of the people involved *love* farmers markets. Last weekend, our outreach group was at the Ballard Farmers Market, who expressed support weeks ago and have made significant donations of produce. I suspect that Occupy Seattle demonstrators are more likely to end up at Safeway and QFC informing people that there’s a farmers market just down the road than they are to do anything likely to harm the Broadway Sunday Farmers Market.

I’m part of the demonstration, and I’m part of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce. I want an end to corporate personhood and to corporate welfare. I want the Glass-Steagall Act restored. I want Seattle and the State of Washington to stop doing business with the “too big to fail” banksters. I want publicly-funded political campaigns. I want Wall Street to stop cheating. I want my neighbors’ independent businesses to thrive. I want the continued opportunity for my neighbors to buy healthy, sustainably-grown food from farmers.

I hear the concerns about the market, and I’ll relay them. I’ll do what I can to remind others at Occupy Seattle that we need to be sensitive to the needs of the farmers market. (And when Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo start crying about people demonstrating on their doorsteps and convincing other people to move to credit unions, I’ll cheer with delight.)

Please compare the disruption caused by Occupy Seattle to the disruption caused by the actions of the corporations and politicians we’re protesting. Sooner or later, something was bound to break. The people are fed up. Occupy Wall Street provided a spark that we may look back upon as the beginning of a peaceful revolution. It’s going to be loud and messy until those we elected to represent us either take notice and take action or get out of the way.

Phil, I asked a question (in another thread) regarding exactly why credit unions are somehow morally/ethically/politically superior to banks, but did not receive a reply. Do they not loan out money and collect interest? If not, how do they stay solvent? Are their various fees any lower than the banks? Are their interest rates, on mortgages for example, lower than banks? Are their top executives not very well-paid? How exactly are they a better choice for the consumer who wants to do the right thing and be morally responsible? It seems to be a given that credit unions are superior, but I would like to know if this is really the case or if it’s just an unchallenged assumption.

I currently have my checking account at Chase, but would consider a change if someone can convince me that they are evil and credit unions are all good.

“There is a lot of money washing around the world, and obviously we are the beneficiary of that,”CHASE CEO Jamie Dimon this April

CHASE Bank has profited through the recession that it had a big part in causing and was able to compensate Mr. Dimon, to the tune of $20.8 million dollars last year.

CHASE pays no state taxes on its in-state mortgage interest income. This loophole was created for Washington State based WAMU, but since the “housing bubble” lending binge that crashed our economy and bankrupted WAMU, it now benefits Chase and other banks. Their fair share would add nearly $100 million per year to our State’s sorely strapped budget.

CHASE acquired billions of dollars during the bailout at a near-zero % interest rate, money that they are now loaning back to the U.S. Treasury at a rate 12 times higher. They are taking more money from taxpayers, rather than investing to create jobs.

Teachers in Seattle are facing layoffs as the legislature struggles to cover its $5 billion + budget shortfall. In addition, Seattle teachers have seen their pay cut by 1.9%.

Cuts to bus routs, healthcare, homeless shelters, and other social services have made the lives of 99% of the population more difficult.

This is not a spending crisis. It’s a revenue crisis that is caused when entities like CHASE pay little to no taxes on their vast fortunes. The money to pay for social services is there. Teachers, other public employees, and the 99% are not the cause of the crisis, and should not pay for it!

The best education I got from my college days was in protests, and general engagement in the political process. It appears many of the administators at SCCC are taking a narrow view of what “learning” consists of. Hear that, SCCC students? keep your head down, repeat what you have learned, and don’t go gettin’ any ideas! Oh yeah, and pay back your student loans.

Bob, the 10pm park closing time has not been enforced. Nobody has been charged with being in a park while it is closed. Instead, we’ve devoted scores of police officers to harassing peaceful demonstrators in the park on a nightly basis. I have witnessed this first-hand.

I call the parks dept. deciding a picnic blanket on the ground is “camping” and threatening arrest harassment. I call 6 police cars with all their bright lights on in park at 1 am harassment. Banning umbrellas in the park — harassment.

Courts decided after WTO Washingtonians have a legal right to assemble anywhere in public, including “closed” parks.

More evidence of harassment: a good friend of mine was arrested at Westlake Plaza last night *for sitting on the ground*. That’s, he sat on the cold hard ground of the plaza and was deemed ‘camping’ by parks dept. so the Seattle police arrested him when he refused to get up. He was willing to be arrested to make a statement. I believe he was released a few hours later after processing.

Bob, quoting the Bank Transfer Day Facebook page:Banks are community, regional or national for-profit corporations owned by private investors and governed by a paid board of directors chosen by the stockholders. The board of directors is authorized to make major decisions without consulting (and sometimes even notifying) the banking customers. The select group of private owners share any profit. Funds are insured with federal deposit insurance (FDIC).

Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives owned by their members and governed by a board of directors elected by, and from among, those members. All members (anyone with money in an account) is entitled to vote on major decisions affecting the credit union. Usually there is a common bond among the members, such as belonging to the same organization or living in the same geographical area. Credit unions accept deposits from their members and use them to make short-term loans. Deposits are regarded as purchases of shares, and all earnings of the credit union are paid out as dividends to members.

I believe that’s accurate.

Credit unions didn’t participate in the mortgage-backed-securities mess. Credit unions didn’t declare themselves too big to fail and force us to bail them out when their gambling debts threatened to crush them.

Bob, this woman’s sign contains a poignant message about the too-big-to-fail banks: “It’s wrong to create a mortgage-backed security filled with loans you know are going to fail so that you can sell it to a client who isn’t aware that you sabotaged it by intentionally picking the misleadingly-rated loans most likely to be defaulted upon.” By moving to a credit union, you’ll remove your support for such actions.

I appreciate your willingness to consider such a move and to take any advice from people involved with a group whose actions you feel are misguided.

Please come down on Bank Transfer Day (Saturday, November 5, 2011), when we’ll have a march from Westlake to various credit unions, dropping groups to sign up as new members (multiple CUs have agreed to stay open late and fully-staffed for this), then deliver miniature coffins filled with shredded bank statements and cards to the doorsteps of the big banks.

I would like to update you on the intentions of Occupy Seattle to have an encampment at Seattle Central Community College for their lawful freedom of speech activities.

Over the past few days, I have been in discussions with legal counsel, representatives from the community, city and state, and also with members of Occupy Seattle. In my discussions with legal counsel, we learned of ambiguity in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) as it applies to college property.

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